2100 MLK Jr. Ave SE as of today at 10:00am

I want you to sit where you are for a second and just let this image settle in. The people and children in this line represent some of our most vulnerable residents.

And they are left to wait outside in the freezing cold.

Again.

I have written about this before on CHotR, the lack of adequate waiting areas for social service agencies in Ward 8. You can go HERE to see long lines from this past summer at 2100 MLK. The Washington Post has even covered this problem. Despite that coverage, DC residents (some with small children in tow or in strollers) are still forced to wait outside in long lines in front of 2100 MLK before getting access to the lobby. Regardless of the burning heat of summer or the biting cold of winter they have to wait outside.

And to add insult to injury: they have to wait in lines while looking into storefront windows of empty offices. 

Forget for a moment that this looks terrible for our communities. Forget that this only fosters the belief by most that east of the river doesn't matter. Forget that this is why east of the river residents get so anxious when they learn of plans to open a new social service center in their neighborhoods.

Let's look at this purely from a human standpoint.



Why is this still okay? Why do I have to get on my little soap box ( at great personal cost) and shame a DC government agency or politician into doing the right thing? Most of the tenants in this building are DC agencies! Department of Health and Human Services has their Anacostia branch here and this is the constituent services office for Councilember Marion Barry. People in need of assistance are being forced to wait in the heat and the cold just to request help! What is next? Flaming hoops?

If 2100 MLK can not handle all of these social service and government agencies then why do they keep adding more? I know for a fact that the Office of Returned Citizens was just relocated here.

So I ask again, "why is this still okay?"

Or is it just okay here?

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